In Brief

TENNIS

Federer makes it official,
brings on Annacone as coach

Roger Federer is bringing aboard Pete Sampras' former coach, Paul Annacone, to work with him at the U.S. Open and beyond.

Federer announced the hiring on his website Saturday, then discussed it during a pre-Open news conference in New York. He and Annacone began spending time together a month ago to see whether the pairing would make sense.

"We've moved it from a test trial to integrating him into the team now," Federer said, "so that's going ahead."

Annacone, an American, is the former coach of Sampras, Marat Safin and Tim Henman. He has been the head coach of men's tennis for Britain's Lawn Tennis Association, and Federer said on his website that Annacone will work with the Swiss star "more and more as his responsibilities with LTA wind down."

Federer, a 16-time Grand Slam winner, is seeded No. 2 at the U.S. Open, which begins Monday.

Also: U.S. Open top seed Caroline Wozniacki won her third consecutive Pilot Pen tennis title, beating Russian Nadia Petrova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the final in New Haven, Conn.

The victory capped a good week for the 20-year-old Danish star, who won in Montreal on Monday and heads to New York with four titles this season, the most of any player on the tour.

COLLEGES

Southern Cal junior Tyler nabs
spot as starting running back

Marc Tyler will be the starting running back for Southern California's season opener against Hawaii on Thursday.

The junior beat out the team's top returning rusher, senior Allen Bradford. Tyler missed all but one game last season due to a toe injury but is in his best shape in years after dropping 15 pounds since spring ball.

He rushed for 198 yards and a touchdown in limited duty as a freshman.

Also: Nebraska coach Bo Pelini hinted he's picked a starting quarterback, but he isn't saying who will get the nod when the No. 8 Cornhuskers open next week against Western Kentucky.

Incumbent starter Zac Lee has been competing against redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez and sophomore Cody Green for the job.

One of Kentucky's all-time leading scorers in basketball was sentenced to eight years in prison for his involvement in a ticket scam.

Ed Davender, 44, received the sentence Friday in a courtroom not far from the Lexington, Ky., campus. Davender pleaded guilty in Fayette County Circuit Court in May to taking money for Kentucky men's basketball season tickets but never producing them. Victims lost tens of thousands of dollars.

Davender will be eligible for parole after serving 20 percent of his sentence.

MISCELLANEOUS

Chelsea shuts out Stoke, stays
atop English Premier League

English Premier League leader Chelsea extended its season-opening winning streak with a 2-0 home win over Stoke on goals by Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba, and Arsenal and Manchester United also posted victories to remain close behind.

Malouda opened the scoring for the defending champions in the 31st minute, before Drogba joined the winger with four goals for the season by sealing Chelsea's third successive win with a 77th-minute penalty.

Russia forward Andrey Arshavin scored a 51st-minute goal to give Arsenal a 2-1 victory over Blackburn. United also stayed unbeaten and two points behind Chelsea after thrashing West Ham 3-0, with Wayne Rooney ending his scoring drought.

Also: England coach Fabio Capello has urged David Beckham to consider a career in coaching while offering the former captain the faint prospect of being recalled to the national team.

The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder, who has played for Real Madrid, AC Milan and Manchester United, has ruled out moving into coaching when his career ends.

But Capello has seen what the 35-year-old Beckham can offer when his playing career is over, after taking him to the World Cup as part of his staff.

"He has big experience," Capello said. "He knows different styles from Spain, Italy and USA. He knows a lot of different things. I think he can be a manager. The manager is a difficult job, but he is intelligent. I think he can do it."

Lauren Jackson had 24 points and nine rebounds as the Seattle Storm beat the host Los Angeles Sparks 81-66 to complete a sweep of their best-of-3 Western Conference semifinals series in the WNBA playoffs.

In the other semifinal, Diana Taurasi scored 23 points and Tangela Smith 16 to help the Phoenix Mercury sweep the San Antonio Silver Stars with a 92-73 road victory.

Sara Nehf had 21 kills as the UNLV volleyball team (1-2) beat Rutgers 25-21, 23-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-9 at the Baden Classic in Long Beach, Calif.